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4.0 out of 5 stars
Searching for the Soul of Modern Kenya, Nov 9 2000
It's not hard to see why Ngugi's Petals of Blood was so controversial in his native Kenya. Written in 1977, it is an angry cry against the betrayal of the independence struggle. The main characters each come to terms with the harsh disappointments of modern Kenya, a place that, in Ngugi's depiction, is dominated by corrupt businessmen and politicians who have quickly and conveniently forgotten the high ideals of the revolt they waged to expel the British.Petals is set in Ilmorog, a village in upcountry Kenya so far from the beaten path that it does not even have a primary school. Munira, a schoolteacher, is sent there to set up such a school. The book opens twelve years after his arrival, as he is arrested in connection with the death of three leading officials in a suspicious fire. Much of the rest of the story is then told as a flashback, with Munira recounting the events unfolding from his arrival all the way up to the deadly fire. Among the other leading characters are Karega, an earnest but unsophisticated schoolteacher who evolves into a formidable union organizer; Wanja, a spirited, alluring "bar girl" and sometime entrepreneur who is the driving force in the plot and a love interest for Munira and Karega; and Abdulla, the crippled shopkeeper with a mysterious past. Although all four are transplants in Ilmorog, having been born and raised elsewhere, it is through their efforts that Ilmorog is "put on the map," a process that initially brings great benefits but ultimately leads to tragedy. Ngugi probably intends Ilmorog's transformation as both a metaphor for and a microcosm of the moral decline of Kenya from the high hopes of post-independence to the business-as-usual corruption and thuggery of a generation later. He contrasts the innocence and wisdom of the village with the political opportunism, religious hypocrisy, and rampant cronyism of modern Kenya. That's not exactly an original theme but Ngugi describes it well. While I valued the book for its insights into the dilemmas and disappointments of post-independence governance, I put it down more discouraged than uplifted. Perhaps it is unfair to ask Ngugi to do more than just paint the picture for us, but the novel would arguably have had a greater impact if it had given us greater hope and reason to believe that things can indeed change for the better.
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